Military Dictatorships in Developing Countries

Why do many of the developing countries on these continents have so much trouble establishing and maintaining stable democracies? Why are they so prone to military dictatorships? The answers can be found in their historic, colonial past. Their colonial periods set up problems with which they are still dealing.

South American countries have had to deal with the aftermath of plantation economies. In contrast to Canada and the Northern United States where Europeans settled in large numbers and lived largely as Europeans did in Europe, Europeans set up a different type of colony in the Southern United States, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. These areas were suitable for cash crops and were favorable for plantation economies. They did not settle in large numbers, but set themselves at the top of a strict hierarchy with natives and imported slaves at the bottom. It was almost a type of new feudalism.

These areas have continued to be more oligarchical and less democratic than areas were Europeans settled themselves. Democracies are weak there and easily toppled by military regimes because the people do not have as strong a democratic tradition as people in Canada and the United States.

African countries suffer from the same lack of democratic traditions, but they have other issues as well. There, Europeans set up colonies they administered with a heavy hand. When those European countries lost their ability to administer those countries during the destruction of the World Wars, these countries saw that the time was ripe for independence. They had an intellectual elite that was familiar with the ideas of the Enlightenment and who resented being second class citizens in European empires. Often, this elite was successful at negotiating a peaceful release of control from the European mother country. Of course, there was some violence.

Although many of these new countries tried to set up democracies, many of them failed for structural reasons. Aside from having only an educated elite that was familiar with democratic traditions, the biggest problem these countries faced was how to incorporate various unrelated groups into one country. This problem goes back to the 19th century when Europeans carved up the African continent. They were unfamiliar with traditional boundaries and where different tribes and groups lived, so they often drew the boundaries between colonies as straight lines. These boundaries were kept when these countries achieved independence and they continue to divide groups and put disparate groups together in unnatural ways.

Thus, there are many competing factions within many African countries, some of which are more fortunate about where the countries resources happen to be. Those areas with more resources often want to keep them for themselves as they do not feel much of a nationalist connection with the other areas of their artificially created areas. In such a climate, voters often vote exclusively for members of their own group. When there are many groups, the winners of any election do not represent the masses of the people in their country.

This generates resentment and frustration at the democratic system. When a group feels disenfranchised, it may rise up and seek to take the reins of the government by force. When they gain power, the other groups will also feel disenfranchised and may seek to eventually overthrow this new group.

These military coups in developing countries are not as common as they once were, however, because they often used to receive American or Soviet help during the Cold War as these countries became the battlefields for proxy wars between the two rival superpowers. With the end of the Cold War and the end of this aid, there has been a decline in the number of military coups and some countries in what we used to call the Third World are developing stable democracies. The problems they have had to face, however, remain and are likely to remain for a long time.